In many situations, as for example in the manufacture of automotive vehicles, wiring harnesses, electrical wires and/or electrical wire cables as well as rods and conduits are required to have seals, grommets, bushings, sleeves and the like applied to the exterior thereof in a manner whereby other related support structure is able to support the wiring harnesses, electrical wires, electrical wire cables, rods and/or conduits by operatively engaging such seal, grommet, bushing, sleeve.
The assembling of any of such seals, grommets, bushings, sleeves and the like onto, for example, electrical wire cables is a difficult and time consuming operation as performed by the prior art. In the situations generally already referred to, it is not unusual that a further requirement exists; that is, that the grommet, seal, etc. be positioned onto a wire cable assembly (or other carrying structure) at a specified axial location and that at such location the grommet effectively exert a squeezing action on the carrying structure to thereby preclude subsequent axial movement of the positioned and seated grommet relative to the carrying structure. To assure the squeezing or tight fit of the grommet onto, for example, the electrical wire cable, the passage formed through the grommet is, in its normal free state, of a diametrical dimension either equal to or slightly smaller than the diametrical dimension of the electrical wire cable and its sheath.
The prior art has been assembling, for example, grommets onto electrical wire cables by applying various lubricants to the surfaces, of the grommets and of the electrical wire cables, in the hope of thereby reducing the friction therebetween and, then, manually forcing the grommet onto the electrical wire cable. This prior art method requires considerable human strength and consumes what is believed to be an extraordinary length of time to finally position the grommet at the specified location along the electrical wire cable. The same applies equally well to the assembling of any of such seals, grommets, bushings, sleeves and/or the like to any of such electrical wiring cables, wiring harnesses, electrical wires, rods and/or conduits.
Accordingly, the invention as herein disclosed is primarily directed to the solution of the aforestated as well as other related and attendant problems of the prior art.